Counter mechanism

ABSTRACT

A resettable counter having an electromagnetic stepping mechanism and a reset mechanism with a manually operable slide for sequentially laterally withdrawing a transfer pinion shaft for disconnecting the counter wheels and pivoting a reset finger comb about the pinion shaft for resetting the counter wheels. The manual reset slide is connected for axially pivoting a stepping pawl of the electromagnetic stepping mechanism out of engagement with a star wheel coupled to the lowest order counter wheel to permit the counter wheel to be reset.

United States Patent LaPointe et a1.

1 51 July 18, 1972 [54] COUNTER MECHANISM [72] inventors: Lloyd J. LlPolnte, West Hartford; Howard J. Vnegelln, Cheshire, both 01' Conn.

[73] Assignee: Veeder Industries, Inc., Hartford, Conn.

[22] Filed: July 22, 1970 (21] Appl. No.: 57,137

52 us. 01. "235/144 PN, 235/1 c, 235/1 17R, 235/144 11c, 235/144 SM 15 1 1m. 01 .coa 15/42 531 FieldolSearch...............235/144 SM, 144 11c,144 PN, 235 144 DM, 144 SP, 117, 1 c, 91.1, 92 c,144,1

[56] Relerences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,081.693 5/1937 Ashley ..235/144DM Moriarty ..235/ 144 SM Wales ..235/I44 SM Primary Examiner-Stephen J. Tomsky Attorney-Prutzman, Hayes, Kalb & Chilton ABSTRACT A resettable counter having an electromagnetic stepping mechanism and a reset mechanism with a manually operable slide for sequentially laterally withdrawing a transfer pinion shaft for disconnecting the counter wheels and pivoting a reset finger comb about the pinion shaft for resetting the counter wheels. The manual reset slide is connected for axially pivoting a stepping pawl of the electromagnetic stepping mechanism out of engagement with a star wheel coupled to the lowest order counter wheel to pemiit the counter wheel to be reset.

llClahns,6DnwingFlgures Patented July 18, 1972 3,677,468

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS LLOYD J. LAPOINTE HOWARD J. VOEGEUN AT TOR N EYS Patented July 18, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet B coun'rsn MECHANISM SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has notable utility in counters and in particular resettable counters.

It is a primary aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved counter reset mechanism for a counter of the type having a counter wheel indexing mechanism comprising a toothed wheel coupled to the counter wheel and a pawl mounted to be reciprocated for repetitive engagement with the toothed wheel for indexing the counter wheel.

It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved counter reset mechanism for an electromagnetic counter which permits the counter to be fully and properly reset with the electromagnet either energized or deenergized.

It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved stepping mechanism having notable utility in resettable counters.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved counter reset mechanism of the type having heart cams on the counter wheels and pivotal reset fingers pivotal into engagement with the heart cams for resetting the counter wheels.

It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved counter reset mechanism which has an economical and compact arrangement of parts and which pro vides reliable resetting over a long service-free life.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

A better understanding of the invention will be obtained from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings of an illustrative application of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. I is a right side view, partly broken away and partly in section, of a resettable counter incorporating an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view, partly broken away and partly in section, of the counter;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial left side view, partly broken away, partly in section, and partly shown in broken lines, showing the interrelationship of a reset slide, transfer pinion shaft and a reset finger comb of the counter with the reset slide fully withdrawn;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged isometric view, partly broken away and partly in section, showing the interrrelationship of the reset slide and an indexing pawl of the counter with the slide fully withdrawn;

FIG. 5 is a partial section view, partly broken away and partly in section, showing the interrelationship of the reset slide, transfer pinion shaft and reset finger comb with the reset slide fully depressed; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view partly broken away showing the indexing pawl in full lines in its withdrawn position and in part in broken lines in its normal operating position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings in detail, an electromagnetic counter 10 is shown to be generally of the type described in detail in copending US. Pat. application Ser. No. 813,490, now US. Pat. No. 3,580,498, of L. .l. Lapointe et al. filed Apr. 4, 1969 and entitled Electrogmagnetic Counting Mechanism" and US. Pat. application Ser. No. 826,395, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,619,577, of E. G. Hoffman filed May. 21, I969 and entitled "Clapper Counterweight. Briefly, the counter 10 comprises a plastic frame II and an electromagnetic operator l2 and rotary counter l4 mounted on the frame. The elecrrom agnetic operator comprises a U-shaped core plate 16 with generally parallel legs [8, 20, a coil 22 encircling the core leg 18, a one-piece pivotal pawl 24 (comprising a clapper 25 and an integral yoke or verge 26) and a pawl return spring 27 extending between the armature and frame. The pawl 24 is pivotally mounted on a rib 30 of the frame ll for pivotal movement about an axis parallel to the axis of the counter wheel shaft 31 and such that the pivot end 32 of the pawl 24 remains in substantial engagement with the end of the core leg 20 to minimize the air gap loss therebetween. The pawl is mounted aside and extends in overlapping relationship with the ends of the core legs 20, I8 and is biased away from the leg ID to its normal position shown in FIG. I by the return spring 27. When the coil is energized, the clapper 25 is pivotally attracted by the electromagnet whereupon a point or tooth 34 of the verge 26 engages a plastic star wheel 38 (integrally formed with the lowest order counter wheel 39) to index the star wheel and therefore the counter wheel one-half count. Thereafter when the coil is deenergized, the spring 27 returns the armature to its normal position shown in FIG. I and the opposite point or tooth 40 of the verge 26 engages the star wheel 38 to index the counter wheel the remaining one-half count.

A counterweight 44 is rotatably mounted on the counter wheel shaft 31 for assisting in controlling the pivotal operation of the pawl 24. The counterweight 44 has an inner bifurcated end 46 loosely receiving an end 50 of the clapper 25 to provide for a driving connection between the clapper and counterweight.

The counter is shown comprising five coaxial counter wheels. In a conventional manner transfer pinions 51 are mounted on a transfer pinion shaft 52 for generating transfers from adjacent lower to higher order counter wheels. The transfer pinion shaft 52 is mounted in opposed slots 54 in the frame 11 such that the transfer pinion shaft may be shifted from a first operating position (where the shaft 52 supports the transfer pinions 51 for engagement with the counter wheels) to a second withdrawn position where the counter wheels are disengaged to permit them to be reset.

A U-shaped reset slide 60 is reciprocably mounted within the frame II and is adapted to be manually depressed against the bias of return springs 62 to shift the slide from its outer position (shown in FIG. I, 2, 3 and 4) to its inner position shown in FIG. 5. The return springs 62 are shown interconnected between the frame II and a crosspiece 64 pivotally connected to the frame and the inner ends of the legs of the reset slide.

The legs of the slide have opposed slots 66 receiving the transfer pinion shaft 52 and which cooperate with the frame slots 54 to provide for timely withdrawing the transfer pinion shaft as the slide 60 is depressed.

A reset finger comb 70 having individual reset fingers 72 for engaging heart cams 74 integrally formed with the counter wheels are provided for resetting the counter wheels (conventionally to zero) after the transfer pinions have been withdrawn. The reset comb 70 comprises a pair of end trunnions 76 which are mounted on semicircular bearings 78 of the frame to provide for rotatably supporting the reset comb about the axis of the transfer pinion shaft 32 when the transfer pinion shah is in its fully withdrawn position. The reset comb 70 is provided with radially extending slots 75(in the pinion spacers 77 and in one of the trunnions 76) for receiving the pinion shaft such that the reset comb is held in its withdrawn pivotal position (shown in FIG. 3) until after the transfer pinion shaft is fully withdrawn. drawn. Thereafter abutments 80 on the reset slide 60 engage integral arms 82 of the reset comb to pivot the reset comb about the transfer pinion shaft 52, in the clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3, to reset the counter wheels. The transfer pinion shah 52 thereby provides a supporting shaft for the reset comb 70 during the reset operation and the interrelationship of the reset comb and transfer pinion shaft provide for ensuring the transfer pinions are withdrawn when the reset comb is pivoted to reset the counter wheels. Also, interlocks 86 and 88 are provided on the slide and reset comb to provide for timely releasing the reset comb for being pivoted to reset the counter wheels.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 6, the pawl 24 is mounted on the rib 30 of the frame 11 to permit the pawl to be pivoted from its normal operating position shown in part in broken lines in FIG. 6 to an axially withdrawn position shown in full lines in FIG. 6. Such pivotal motion of the pawl 24 provides for relatively axially shifting the pawl and star wheel 38 to provide for disengaging the pawl teeth from the star wheel and thereby permit the lowest order counter wheel 39 to be reset. A tab 92 is provided on the inner end of the pawl 24 and a corresponding opening 94 is provided in the rib 30 of the frame to provide for such pivotal motion of the pawl about an axis extending substantially perpendicular to the axis of the counter wheel shaft 31. Also, as shown in FIG. 6, the return spring 27 is oriented to provide for returning the pawl to its normal operating position in operative engagement with the star wheel 38.

Referring to FIG. 4, the slide 60 is provided with a cam edge 96 and the pawl 24 is provided with a follower or tang 98 engageable with the cam edge 96 to provide for axially withdrawing with the pawl out of engagement with the star wheel 38 when the slide 60 is manually depressed. The cam edge 96 is related to the tang 98 such that the pawl 24 is free of the slide 60 when the slide is fully withdrawn and is adapted to be axially shifted to disengage the pawl from the star wheel 38 during the withdrawal of the transfer pinions and prior to the pivotal operation of the reset finger comb 70. Also, the connection between the pawl 24 and the counterweight 44 is such that the pawl is adapted to be axially shifted.

The tang 98 may be designed so as to be engageable by the cam edge 96 even when the electromagnet is energized and the pawl tooth 34 is in engagement with the star wheel 38. Alternatively. the tang 98 could be dimensioned to be free of the cam edge when the electromagnet is energized in which case the lowest order counter wheel 39 can be manually reset with the slide 60 by merely overcoming the force of the electromagnet and permitting the pawl teeth to ratchet across the teeth of the star wheel 38 as the counter wheel 39 is reset. Thus, in either alternative the counter wheel 39 is adapted to be reset with power on."

As will be apparent to persons skilled in the art, various modifications, adaptations and variations of the foregoing specific disclosure can be made without departing from the teachings ofthe present invention.

We claim:

I. In a counter having a counter wheel and a wheel indexing mechanism comprising a toothed wheel coupled to the counter wheel, a pawl reciprocably mounted to be actuated in opposite operational directions for repetitive engagement with the toothed wheel for indexing the toothed wheel and therefore the counter wheel in stepwise fashion and pawl actuating means for actuating the pawl for indexing the counter wheel, the improvement wherein the counter comprises shift means for relatively axially shifting the toothed wheel and pawl to disengage the pawl and toothed wheel and to thereby disconnect the counter wheel from the pawl without uncoupling the counter wheel from the toothed wheel.

2. In the counter of claim 1 further comprising wheel reset means having a reset actuator operable for resetting the counter wheel and connected for relatively axially shitting the toothed wheel and pawl for disengaging the pawl and toothed wheel upon operation of the reset actuator for resetting the counter wheel.

3. In the counter of claim I wherein the shift means provides for axially shifting the pawl in opposite axial directions for respectively shifting the pawl into and out of engagement with the toothed wheel.

4 In the counter of claim 3 wherein the counter comprises spring means operable for actuating the pawl in one of said operational directions and for shifting the pawl in one of said axial directions.

5. In the counter of claim 4 wherein the spring means is operable for shifting the pawl into engagement with the toothed wheel. I

6. In the counter of claim 3 wherein the pawl IS pivotally mounted to be pivoted in said opposite operational directions about an axis generally parallel to the axis of the toothed wheel.

7. In the counter of claim 6 wherein the pawl actuating means comprises an electromagnet for pivoting the pawl in one operational direction.

8. In the counter of claim 7 wherein the pawl forms a magnetic armature for the electromagnet and wherein the counter comprises pawl mounting means including a cooperating tab and opening for locating the pawl while permitting the pawl to be pivoted for shifting the pawl axially into and out of engagement with the toothed wheel.

9. In the counter of claim 3 wherein the pawl is mounted for pivotal movement about a first axis for said repetitive engagement with the toothed wheel, and wherein the pawl is shifted out of engagement with the toothed wheel by pivoting the pawl about an axis generally perpendicular to said first axis.

10. In an indexing mechanism comprising a star wheel and an indexing pawl having a pair of generally opposed stepping teeth and mounted for reciprocable movement to be actuated back and forth for alternate engagement of the stepping teeth with the star wheel for indexing the star wheel in stepwise fashion and pawl actuating means for actuating the pawl back and forth, the improvement wherein the indexing mechanism comprises means for relatively axially shifting the pawl and star wheel to disengage the stepping teeth of the pawl from the star wheel.

11. In an indexing mechanism according to claim 10 wherein the pawl is mounted for pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the star wheel for indexing the star wheel and for pivotal movement in an axial direction for disengaging the stepping teeth of the pawl from the star wheel. 

1. In a counter having a counter wheel and a wheel indexing mechanism comprising a toothed wheel coupled to the counter wheel, a pawl reciprocably mounted to be actuated in opposite operational directions for repetitive engagement with the toothed wheel for indexing the toothed wheel and therefore the counter wheel in stepwise fashion and pawl actuating means for actuating the pawl for indexing the counter wheel, the improvement whereIn the counter comprises shift means for relatively axially shifting the toothed wheel and pawl to disengage the pawl and toothed wheel and to thereby disconnect the counter wheel from the pawl without uncoupling the counter wheel from the toothed wheel.
 2. In the counter of claim 1 further comprising wheel reset means having a reset actuator operable for resetting the counter wheel and connected for relatively axially shifting the toothed wheel and pawl for disengaging the pawl and toothed wheel upon operation of the reset actuator for resetting the counter wheel.
 3. In the counter of claim 1 wherein the shift means provides for axially shifting the pawl in opposite axial directions for respectively shifting the pawl into and out of engagement with the toothed wheel.
 4. In the counter of claim 3 wherein the counter comprises spring means operable for actuating the pawl in one of said operational directions and for shifting the pawl in one of said axial directions.
 5. In the counter of claim 4 wherein the spring means is operable for shifting the pawl into engagement with the toothed wheel.
 6. In the counter of claim 3 wherein the pawl is pivotally mounted to be pivoted in said opposite operational directions about an axis generally parallel to the axis of the toothed wheel.
 7. In the counter of claim 6 wherein the pawl actuating means comprises an electromagnet for pivoting the pawl in one operational direction.
 8. In the counter of claim 7 wherein the pawl forms a magnetic armature for the electromagnet and wherein the counter comprises pawl mounting means including a cooperating tab and opening for locating the pawl while permitting the pawl to be pivoted for shifting the pawl axially into and out of engagement with the toothed wheel.
 9. In the counter of claim 3 wherein the pawl is mounted for pivotal movement about a first axis for said repetitive engagement with the toothed wheel, and wherein the pawl is shifted out of engagement with the toothed wheel by pivoting the pawl about an axis generally perpendicular to said first axis.
 10. In an indexing mechanism comprising a star wheel and an indexing pawl having a pair of generally opposed stepping teeth and mounted for reciprocable movement to be actuated back and forth for alternate engagement of the stepping teeth with the star wheel for indexing the star wheel in stepwise fashion and pawl actuating means for actuating the pawl back and forth, the improvement wherein the indexing mechanism comprises means for relatively axially shifting the pawl and star wheel to disengage the stepping teeth of the pawl from the star wheel.
 11. In an indexing mechanism according to claim 10 wherein the pawl is mounted for pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the star wheel for indexing the star wheel and for pivotal movement in an axial direction for disengaging the stepping teeth of the pawl from the star wheel. 